


China Dolls and Tea Parties

by inheritancedrottningu



Category: Pretty Little Liars
Genre: F/F, F/M, Gen, Kidnapping, Missing Persons, Non-Consensual Drug Use
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-10-26
Updated: 2014-01-26
Packaged: 2017-12-30 12:54:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 10,738
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1018874
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/inheritancedrottningu/pseuds/inheritancedrottningu
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Set during season 4 (Contains spoilers). Tragedy strikes Rosewood again when Aria, Emily, Hanna and Spencer all disappear. With the town on high alert, and the new members of the police force desperate not to stuff up and loose any more people, will the liars be found in time? Meanwhile Red Coat and co. have a pretty disturbing plan up their sleeves to teach the girls just how vulnerable they are. Note: (SPOILER!!!!!!!) Ezra is not A.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Spencer

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: This is my first attempt writing Pretty Little Liars so it's still quite rough. It's also after midnight where I am so parts of this may not make sense...
> 
> The idea for this was inspired by an episode of Criminal Minds called An Uncanny Valley.
> 
> I ask that you just go with any liberties that I may have taken to make the story work...
> 
> Disclaimer: I own nothing.
> 
> Note: I refuse to accept the current identity of "A" and am therefore ignoring it. I ask that you just go with it.

* * *

It was still early, not quite 7pm, and Spencer Hastings was home alone, sitting in her living room writing, or at least trying to write, her Russian Lit paper. The house was silent, the only sound that of the grandfather clock ticking, marking the pass of time. The silence made the house feel bigger than it was, and emptier. Made her feel alone, like she was the only person for miles around. There was nothing to distract her from her thoughts. Toby was angry at her, he'd accused her of picking her friends over him, but that wasn't true, or least it wasn't that simple. Spencer groaned, shutting her computer. There was no way she was going to get any work done. With everything they'd been through together she trusted her friends explicitly, and they trusted her. This was especially true when it came to anything related to their mysterious tormentor known to them as 'A'.

For the last few years 'A' has discovered their secrets and set them up to look guilty if they ever came out, forcing them to lie to everyone around them on a daily basis, but eventually those secrets always found the light. So did the bodies. Their best friend Allison was one such body, discovered a year after she went missing in their hometown, Rosewood. Since then many more bodies have accumulated, including Spencer's sister's fiancé and two police officers. The only people they could turn to at those times was each other. If they were ever going to be free of A (and not lose their lives in the process) was to first discover their identity. In order to do that they had to work together, which in turn meant full disclosure.

Damn it! She thought, it wasn't that she was more loyal to her friends than to Toby, she had just reached a point where she could no longer stand to be ripped in two different directions! She couldn't withhold information about 'A' from her friends, even if it was what Toby wanted. 'A' had Toby in his or her pocket, and she was worried. 'A' had information Toby wanted, and he or she knew it and wasn't hesitating to use it to their advantage, manipulating him, making him do things in return for bits and pieces of information. Spencer couldn't help but worry about him, worry that one day his search for the truth would get him killed. She had tried to tell him, to get him to be more careful, but he just didn't want to listen to her!

She was pulled from her thoughts by the sound of the doorbell. Heading to the door she looked out the peephole but saw nothing. Undoing the bolt she opened the door, there was no one there. Thinking she imagined it she went back inside. Before she left the door however, she couldn't resist looking out the window. She saw nothing, but still she stood there, waiting, she wasn't sure what for. Suddenly she noticed the bushes were shacking, as though someone was hiding behind them, watching her. Was it 'A'? She continued to peer outside but saw nothing. No, she decided. Whoever had been there was gone now, she was just scaring herself. Forcing herself away from that line of thought she went back to the kitchen, determined to this time make some progress on her paper.

She had been working less than five minutes when she was once again interrupted, this time by a knock on the window. Getting up she moved to the window and looked out. Like before, there was no one there. Creeped out, Spencer pulled the curtains shut.

The home phone ringing pulled her from the window. "Hello," she answered.

No response. She could hear someone breathing on the other end of the line.

"Hello?" she repeated. There was a beep as the person hung up, followed by the dial tone.

She put the phone on the counter and almost immediately it started ringing again.

"Hello?"

Once again there was no response, just breathing.

"I know you're there. I can hear you breathing."

They hung up again.

Another knock sounded at the window. Looking out, there was no one there. This time there was a handprint, left in the condensation on the window as though someone had leaned against it, looking in, and their breath fogging up the glass.

Now knowing for certain that it wasn't her imagination, Spencer started to freak out. Deja vu had her moving to the doorway, switching off the lights and grabbing a knife. Spencer remembers she hadn't locked the front door last time, so she slowly moves into the front hallway, knife out in front of her. Locking the deadbolt, she goes back to the kitchen, heading for the back door next. Halfway there the phone rings again.

Placing the knife next to the phone she answers, "Hello?" she demands.

"Have you checked your bedroom window?" an eerie, crackling voice asks.

Spencer's blood goes cold as the dial tone sounds in her ear. Dropping the phone she runs upstairs to her room. When she gets there she cautiously opened her door. What she saw made her heart beat faster and the hair on her neck stand on end.

Though the only light came from the moon outside, it was more than enough illumination. Her window was wide open, curtains swaying in the breeze. She saw out the corner of her eye her look of horror as a distorted reflection in a broken mirror. Everywhere she looked her possessions were scattered, papers and books coated the floor rustling. That wasn't all that coated the floor everywhere she looked she saw white. Directing her attention to her bed she saw that someone had slashed her pillows with something sharp, sending down feathers all through the room.

Someone had been in her room. She left the window open and they slipped in. They were inside the house.

Stepping back into the corridor, careful to keep her back against the wall she headed for the stairs. When she reached the top she crouched peering through the banister. She couldn't see anyone from her vantage point. She does however, see the knife lying benignly next the phone's cradle. What she couldn't see, or rather, what wasn't there, was the phone she had dropped in her haste. It was gone.

She sets her sights on the backdoor, which she can see is unlocked. Peeling herself she slowly starts down the stairs, still crouching. At the bottom she looks around checking it was still clear. Moving fast through the kitchen she grabs the knife and bolts for the backdoor. Just when she gets there, when her hand is on the knob, about to turn it, she sees a figure outside. She pulls her hand back as though burned, then freezes when the figure appears to look right at her, freezes like a child caught with a hand in the cookie jar. When the door handle starts to turns she backs up. The door opens and the person enters, closing the door behind them. They are dressed all in black, hood up. They are wearing a mask of Ali's face.

She turns when she sees movement out of the corner of her eye. Redcoat is coming in the side door, a video camera in one hand. She too is wearing a mask of Ali's face. The two intruders walk forward, driving her backward.

Spencer is so focused on the two in front of her she doesn't notice as a third person, also wearing black hoodie comes out of the pantry behind her until it's too late.

Arms wrap around her from behind, a hand coming up to cover her mouth and nose. With a gasp she inhales, and smells chemicals when she does. She holds her breath but it's too late she's already inhaled. She strikes out with the knife and feels it bite into something soft. Darkness begins to cloud her vision and she feels her legs give out. The last thing she sees is red coat standing above her, head cocked to one side.

* * *

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Notes:
> 
> A/N: As I said at the start this is quite rough, as such I am looking for a beta reader so if, having read the first chapter, you think you'd be interested send me a PM!
> 
> Reviews are much appreciated!


	2. Aria

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's Aria's turn...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Note: (to put this in a way that wont spoil anything for those who haven't seen the Halloween episode, and the one before it) I refuse to accept the current identity of "A" and am therefore ignoring it. I ask that you just go with it.
> 
> A/N: Hope you enjoy, feel free to leave feedback!
> 
> (If anyone is interested in beta'ing this PM me!)

 

* * *

It's parent teacher night at Rosewood High and Aria Montgomery is sitting outside her mom's classroom waiting for her to finish her last interviews so they can go to dinner.

It nearly 9 at night and the corridors are deserted, most of the teachers have already finished talking to parents and have left for the night.

With a sigh, she reaches for her bag and pulls out her English novel,  _Vanity Fair_ by William Makepeace Thackeray – a novel without a hero, figuring she may as well do something productive while she waits. A half hour or so later she is about to put her book away and find out how much longer her mother would be when she receives a new txt message.

What she reads causes a chill to run down her spine. The message read "Have you spoken to Spencer? – A."

Forgetting about her book she hits the speed dial for Spencer. The phone rings, and rings, and rings, until finally it goes to her voice mail.

"Spence, it's Aria, call me as soon as you get this," she says before hanging up.

Next she tries Emily.

"Have you heard form Spencer?" she asks as soon as her friend picks up.

"What? No, I haven't, why?"

Without answering Aria hangs up.

While dialling Hanna, Aria grabs her bag and heads towards the exit.

"What?" Hanna exclaims when she answers. "Aria? Sorry, I'm having dinner with my dad and the gruesome twosome," she complains.

"Have you spoken to Spencer tonight?" As Aria turns the corner she glimpses Lieutenant Linda Tanner and Detectives Gabriel Holbrook heading towards her with Mr Hackett. With only seconds before they notice her, she ducks back the way she came lest risk them slowing her down.

"No, I haven't spoken to her since this morning, why?" Hanna was saying.

About to reply, Aria spotted Ezra coming out of his classroom. With nowhere else to go she had to keep heading his way. "That's what I was afraid of," Aria replied.

"Aria," Ezra called, having spotted her.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Hanna asked.

"Gotta go," Aria told Hanna, hanging up before her friend had a chance to reply.

"Ezra, I'm sorry, but I really can't talk right now, I have to go," she told him, continuing past him and ducking through the door leading to the fire escape stairs.

Aria had only gone down a few steps when she heard the echo. She froze, listening. The noise continued and she realized it wasn't an echo of her footsteps – there was someone else in the stairwell, and they were coming up. Disbelieving it could be a coincidence – why would anyone be using these stairs at all, let alone to go upstairs, unless they had some reason they didn't want to be seen – Aria went back to the landing she had come out on, deciding she would rather face a couple of cops than whoever was coming up the stairs. When she reached the landing she tugged on the door handle but it didn't budge and she realised it must have locked automatically as soon as it closed, and could therefore only be opened from the outside.

Looking behind her and listening as the footsteps grow louder Aria starts heading up the stairs. Once again she had taken no more than a few steps when she thinks she hears a third set of footsteps, this time coming from above her. Stopping to listen again, she knows she's right. She pulls out her phone, thinking she can call Ezra and tell him she's locked in the stairwell. Her hands are shacking as she dials casing the phone to slip form her hands, scattering noisily down the stairs and knocking off the back cover – and the battery.

Scrambling after it, she has just grabbed the phone and the battery when she sees the first person she'd heard appear to her left. The black hoodie and mask of Alison's face tells her it's one of red coats minions. Seconds later Red Coat herself appeared from above her, a video camera in-hand.

Backing up, she bumps into the door as it opens. For a second she thinks, hopes, that someone, by pure luck, had given her an escape route. The thought is banished from her mind however when the person pushes her back in and closes the door.

Turning to look at the newcomer understanding dawns in her mind – this was how they did it, she realised. There were three of them, if not more. It wasn't just one, or even two people that seemed to be everywhere all at once. This realisation didn't help her current situation at all, however.

Distracted as she was by the new arrival, she didn't registered that the first black hoodie had come up behind her and by the time she did, he, or she, had already pinned her arms to her side, allowing the hoodie in front of her to press a piece of fabric over her mouth and nose.

Realising they were knocking her out with it, Aria tried to kick out at her assailants but to no avail. Seconds later and her vision was clouding and her body was going limp. All the while Red Coat stood a few steps above them, watching, and filming, as it all unfolded.

* * *

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Next up it's Hanna's turn.


	3. Hanna

That was weird, Hanna thought when Aria hung up on her as she headed back to the table. Why was she asking about Spencer? What could be that urgent it couldn’t wait until tomorrow?

She had just sat back down when her phone buzzed. Opening it up she saw a new message, from a blocked number. Dreading what she’d find she opened it. The message simply read “I see you – Kisses A.”. Below the message was a video file which she downloaded. Once it was done she opened it and what she saw made her blood run cold and her heart speed up. The video was of her, in the restaurant, talking to Aria on the phone, then going back to the table.

Realising it had been filmed from outside and that it was taken seconds ago the person might still be there had her standing abruptly, stopping the conversation at the table, something about horses, and running out the door before they had a chance to stop her.

Outside she looked around and quickly spotted the culprit across the street. Red Coat, holding a camera up as though still filming, began walking backwards, around a corner.

 Taking off at a run, Hanna followed her, hoping to catch her. When she rounded the corner Red Coat turned and ran with Hanna not far behind her.

Hanna chased her for a couple of minutes before losing sight of her. Rounding a corner and not seeing her, Hanna was about to give up when suddenly Red Coat stepped out of an alley, making herself visible in the street lights. When Hanna started toward her Red Coat stepped back into the alley.

Cautiously Hanna followed approached the entrance to the alley. It was pitch black. Pulling out her phone Hanna used it as a torch as she slowly moved into the alley. Seeing Red Coat ahead of her, trapped at a dead end, Hanna approached her, not sure what she intended to do once she got to her. Before she got that far however she was jumped by two people appearing out of the shadows on either side of her.

As they clamped fabric over her mouth and nose, and her vision went dark, she heard more than felt, her phone fall from her hand and clatter on the concrete.

The last thing she saw was Red Coat approaching, camera in hand.


	4. Emily

It was nearly midnight and Emily Fields was in her school’s locker room, showering after her swim. She had told her mother she was staying Hanna’s place and come to the pool, waiting until everyone else had left before she went against her doctor’s orders.

Now she stepped out of the shower stall, wrapped in a towel and nothing else, and headed for her locker.

Just as she’d gotten it open she was surprised by the sound of the door opening, then closing, softly. Why would anyone be coming here this late? She wondered.

“Hello,” she called out. Silence. “Is anyone there?” she tried again. Again there was silence. Off to the side somewhere she could hear a tap leaking, the occasional ‘plop’ the only noise disturbing the silence.

Disturbed, she slowly moved down the aisle, then towards the door, checking every aisle. When she reached the door there was no one there. Starting to feel afraid, as the door hadn’t opened again signalling whoever it was had left, she walked as fast as she could without slipping, back to her locker. The hairs on the back of her neck were rising to stand on end as she realised that nobody knew she was there. She figured she would just get dressed as quickly as she could, not even bother to get dry, and get out of there as fast as she could.

When she got to her locker what she saw made her freeze and any fantasy she had that she’d merely  imagined the door opening vanished – she knew for certain now, there was definitely someone in there with her, and whoever they were, they weren’t her friend. Someone had taped a note to her locker door, and what it read made her heart start beating even faster than it already had been. The note read “Do you know where your friends are? – A”.

Now sure that she wasn’t alone Emily grabbed her jeans and jumper and started to run for the exit when suddenly the lights went out and the room went dark.

Emily froze in her tracks, giving her eyes a chance to adjust so could find the exit. Before they did she heard footsteps. Two pairs, she decided. Then a third pair joined them, this set easily distinguishable from the other two, which sounded the same, by the echoing click made by each boot heel as it struck tile.

She was surrounded.


	5. In the Lair the Monster Sleeps

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The girls wake up...

The air was stifling, the darkness smothering. Her eyes were closed and there was pain in her neck. At first she thought she had fallen asleep on the couch so she tried to sit up. Nothing happened. Then she realised she was already sitting. So she tried to stand up, but once again nothing happened. She tried to open her eyes, but they were so heavy. Her mind felt sluggish, and so she wasn’t immediately alarmed. Slowly her thought process caught up, and her memories came rushing back. She remembered feeling afraid, then being cornered by Red Coat and two others in hoodies. After that there was only darkness.

She focused on her body, trying to move her fingers, then her toes, and although she couldn’t be sure (not being able to open her eyes and all) she was pretty sure her attempts failed.

It took a few seconds for this to sink in. When it did she started to panic. Her mind was telling her body to move, but it wasn’t listening. She was paralysed.

Trying again to open her eyes she fought her body and eventually she managed to open them slightly. When she did she wished she hadn’t – the room was spinning, the floor tilting under her. Trying to ignore the nausea brought on by the dizziness, she attempted to examine her surroundings. The room was gloomy and she could barely see anything, the only light coming in from a window on the far side. From the sounds she realized it was storming outside, and the only thing she could here was the constant patter of rain, and the repeated cracks of thunder. Every so often lightning would strike and the room would be illuminated briefly. During these brief moments she was able to put together a basic picture of her surroundings. Everything was blurry, but she could just make out the other three girls; one across from her, one on each side. They weren't moving. She tried to turn her head, to open her mouth, to call out to them, but there was no movement, no sound.

She continued in this state, with nothing to do but wait, wait for her eyes to adjust to the poorly lit room, wait for them to regain their focus.

With a lot of effort she turned her attention to her friends: they too were just starting to come to - that is, their eyes were starting to flutter open. Like her, they were deathly still otherwise.

When finally the room stopped spinning and she could see clearly she realized they were in some sort of house, or perhaps a cabin. Out the window she could see woods, somewhat distorted by the rain. She didn’t recognise the place. Every wall that she could see from her position was covered in photos: most of these featured at least one of the four of them, or Allison. Others contained the various members of the N.A.T club. Jenna, Shana, Maya, Lucus, Mona, Melissa, Dr Sullivan and Wilden were in some. So were the newest members of Rosewood’s police department; Officer Holbrook and Lieutenant Tanner. Some had diagonal lines, and some had crosses, drawn through them in what looked like red lipstick. The photos of them had been circled.

On one wall was what looked like a dart board, but not a conventional one. In the centre, instead of a bullseye, was a photo of Allison, and the four of them made up the outer circle. All five photos sported numerous hits. As she looked at it, suddenly a dart flew through the air at the board, hitting dead centre on Alison’s forehead. She stared as the dart quivered in place then went still. When it did she heard footsteps approaching. There is someone else in the room, she realised. And whoever they are, she thought, they’re standing right behind me.

In front of her she saw her friends. All three were staring over her head, at the person she could not see.

Slowly the person started walking around them, and it was then that she realized they were around a table, and that there were no restraints. Of course that didn’t really count for much, seeing as none of them could so much as twitch a finger. When the figure was opposite her, she saw they were again wearing the mask of Ali’s face. It was one of the black hoodies. At least it’s not Red Coat, she thought, that would probably be worse.


	6. The Call

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Once again, the liars parents get calls to come to the police station.

Ella Montgomery had gone home when Aria wasn’t outside her classroom, figuring Aria had given up waiting. When she got to her apartment she rang Aria’s number but got her voicemail. Leaving her a message to call back when she got it, Ella ended the call.

The next morning she headed to the school early, thinking she could get some marking done before class started.

She had just started up her computer when her phone rang, the noise startling her.

“Hello,” she answered.

“Is this Ella Montgomery?” a woman asked.

“Yes, it is, who am I speaking with?” she asked.

“This is Lieutenant Linda Tanner, calling from Rosewood Police Department.”

“What can I do for you?” Ella asked, starting to worry what had happened this time.

“I’m calling about a package that was delivered to the station anonymously early this morning,” the Lieutenant paused, and Ella’s heart started to race, “It contained information pertinent to your daughter and her friends,” Lieutenant Tanner continued after a moment. “I need you to come to the station as soon as possible.”

It was all she could do not to panic as she said she’d be there in ten minutes before hanging up the phone.

Immediately after ending the call she tried again to call Aria’s cell phone, this time instead of voicemail she got a recorded message informing her that the number she was trying to call was currently not in service.

She grabbed her keys and left the building.

Trying hard not to, but failing miserably, she spent the drive imagining worst case scenarios.

When she got to the police station she saw Veronica and Peter Hastings going in the door, and Ashley Marin and Pam Fields were, like her, just arriving.

Getting out of her car, she headed up the stairs alongside the other two. “Do you know why we’re here?” Pam asked the other two, who both replied that they didn’t.

As they reached the door Byron arrived, jogging up the stairs to join them.

Once inside they were taken into an office along with the Hastings, where they faced Lieutenant Tanner and Detective Holbrook.

“What is this about?” Veronica Hastings demanded. “Where are our girls?”

“Mrs Hastings I assure you we are looking into that right now. Now, for starters, have any of you heard from your daughters since last night?” Lieutenant Tanner asked them.

His question was greeted with silence as the parents looked around at each other waiting for someone to answer.

“Ok, why don’t we all take a seat?” Lieutenant Tanner suggested, gesturing to the chairs behind them. Taking a seat herself, she waited as the others remained standing not going to continue until they were sitting. Finally they sat one by one and she continued.

“Mr and Mrs Hastings when did you last see or hear from Spencer?” she asked.

“About two weeks ago, I’ve been away since them, my flight only got in this morning,” Mr Hastings answered.

“Mrs Hastings?” the Lieutenant prompted.

“Yesterday morning, I left for work just as she was getting breakfast.”

Detective Holbrook had been taking notes as they answered, and when he finished he looked up. “Ok,” he said.

“Mr and Mrs Montgomery, when was the last time either of you saw or spoke to Aria?” Lieutenant Tanner asked.

“Yesterday around lunch time,” Byron answered after a moment.

“Last night, around 8.30, at the high school,” Ella replied.

“When she didn’t come home I figured she spent the night with you,” Byron said in a way which sounded accusatory.

“When I finished she had already left, I thought she went home to you and she didn’t answer her phone,” Ella shot back.

“You could’ve called _me_!”

“I thought you’d call me to check if she never came home – rather than just assume she was with me. I would have had her call you if she was staying at my place!”

“That’s enough,” Detective Holbrook interrupted them. “Mrs Fields, when did you last have contact with Emily?” he asked.

“Yesterday afternoon, she said she was staying at Hanna’s.”

“Mrs Marin?” asked Lieutenant Tanner.

“Last I heard she was staying with Mrs DiLaurentis,” she replied.

“So you haven’t seen Emily?”

“No.”

“What about the last time you saw or heard from Hanna?”

“Yesterday evening, she was going to dinner with her father -,” as she was speaking there was a knock on the door and it opened to an officer showing Tom Marin in.

“What’s going on? Where’s Hanna Ashley?” he asked.

“I could ask you the same thing,” she said.

“Mr Marin, you took your daughter to dinner last, is that correct?” Lietenant Tanner asked.

“Yes, it is,” he replied. “With my wife, and step-daughter.”

“What time did you see her last?” Detective Holbrook asked.

“Around 9.30 I think, she suddenly stood up and stormed out of the restaurant,” he replied.

“You didn’t go after her?”

“I thought she was being immature about our current situation,” he replied, “it wouldn’t have been the first time. She’d been reluctant to even go to dinner, and then she kept taking phone calls.”

“From who, do you know?” Detective Holbrook asked.

“Caleb, I think. Except the last one, that was from Aria I think. She left the table every time.”

“Did she leave immediately after talking presumably to Aria?”

“No, she came back to the table, but she was distracted. Then I think she got a text message, and it was after that she left.”

“Alright,” Lieutenant Tanner said. “As you’ve probably worked out by now, we have classified your daughters as missing, even though it’s been less than 24 hours. Given this town’s history of missing persons we’re moving fast.”

“I’m sure that’s not necessary,” Mr Hastings countered. “It’s not like this is the first time we have no idea where they’ve run off to. They are teenagers, after all.”

“I’m inclined to agree,” Mr Marin said.

“No, Aria wouldn’t just not call us unless something was preventing her from doing so,” Elle Montgomery said.

“Maybe they’re running away together,” Byron Montgomery offered. “Maybe they’re planning to call us once they’re well away from Rosewood.”

At this, Lieutenant Tanner and Detective Holbrook looked at each other, and seemed to be having some sort of a silent conversation which didn’t go unnoticed by the parents.

They were interrupted by another knock on the door.

“Sorry to interrupt – Ezra Fitz has arrived,” an officer informed them. “Where would you like him?”

Looking around, Lieutenant Tanner replied, “In here, for now at least.”

“What is he doing here?” Byron Montgomery demanded, standing up. “Did he do something to my daughter?”

“If we thought that then he would be in an interrogation room and not here,” Detective Holbrook said. “We saw him at the school last night, we thought he might have seen Aria,” he explained.

“I need you to calm down, and return to your seat. If you don’t all work together we will separate you but I don’t want to have to do that: from what I know of these girls, they always stick together, so for the moment we want you all together while we try to get the complete picture,” Lieutenant Tanner explained.

The same officer returned, this time Ezra in tow.

Once the door was closed and Ezra was seated also they continued.

 “What do you know?” Veronica Hastings asked the lieutenant and detective.

“What do you mean?” Detective Holbrook asked her.

“Clearly you know something that has you worried, or none of us would be here. On the phone you mentioned a package – what was it?” she asked him.

Again they looked at each other, and this time a small almost imperceptible nod could just be perceived passing between them.

Detective Holbrook opened a draw in the desk at the back of the room, and pulled out an evidence box.

“This morning around 4am a package was found on the stairs at the entrance. It contained a DVD showing each of the four girls being abducted.” At this the parents stirred, some held their breaths waiting for the lieutenant to continue. “At first we too thought that maybe the videos were staged, and they were running, as each girl was abducted by three disguised assailants. After a preliminary examination of the footage however, it was determined not only that the heights of the assailants did not match any of the girls, but also that it was the same assailants in each video,” Lieutenant Tanner informed them.

“Mr Fitz, did you see Aria last night?” Lieutenant Tanner asked.

“Yes, briefly, she was on the phone and ran right past me.”

“Which way was she heading?”

“When I first came out she was heading down the corridor but she turned around suddenly and headed the other way. That was when I met her. I think she was on the phone with Hanna, but she didn’t stop, she headed for the fire stairs.”

Lieutenant Tanner and Detective Holbrook once again looked at each other.

“We’ve already looked into their mobile phones, but it would seem that all of them were disconnected around 1 this morning." Detective Holbrook said. “Therefore we don’t expect to have much luck tracking them, but the phone companies are trying as we speak.”

“What do you mean tracking them?” Byron Montgomery asked.

“They all have smart phones, with GPS capabilities - if they are enabled that is,” the detective replied.

 “We found Aria’s phone in the fire staircase at the school. It was quite badly damaged, as though it had been crushed under a foot. We already requested her phone records be sent to use.” Lieutenant Tanner said, picking up a file and turning to the last page. “At 9.01 she received a text message from a burner phone, we can’t get the content from the company and her phone was badly damaged, but we’re trying to recover what we can. Immediately following this she rang Spencer, left a message 9 seconds long, then called Emily and their conversation lasted 14 seconds, then she called Hanna, their conversation lasting 28 seconds.”

“Two minutes later she tried to call you Mr Fitz, but the connection was cut off before it had fully connected. We think this is when the phone was destroyed,” Lieutenant Tanner said. “Why would she call you and not her mother? You were both in the school,” she asked, looking at him. “Why does she even have your number?”

Ella Montgomery saved him from trying to answer in a way that wouldn’t put him in jail. “I was doing parent-teacher interviews. She probably knew my phone would be off. As for why, Ezra is a family friend and has been for years.”

“I want to see these videos,” Veronica Hastings requested.

Again, the lieutenant and detective looked at each other.

“Alright. Parents can watch it,” Lietenant Tanner said. “I should warn you though that the footage is quite distressing. Those of you who wish to watch can remain here. If any of you do not want to watch it you can go with Detective Holbrook.”

None of them moved.

 “Mr Fitz if you would go –,”

“If it’s alright with everyone else,” Ella Montgomery interrupted, looking around at the other parents as she spoke, “he can stay.”

The others shrugged or nodded. Byron Montgomery was the only one who appeared he might protest but a look from Ella settled him.

“Very well,” the lieutenant said, “he can stay if he wishes.”

Ezra, who had been in the process of standing, sat back down, nodding his thanks to Ella.


	7. Missing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 5 days later.

_“We're going to fight this battle with everything we have, and we will probably lose. But then we will fight it again, and we will lose a little less, for this battle will win us many supporters. And then we'll lose *again*. And *again*. And we will fight on. Because as hard as it is to win by fighting, it's impossible to win by doing nothing.” –_ Cory Doctorow

Five days after the four teenagers went missing in Rosewood the town was completely covered with missing person posters. You couldn’t walk down any street and not see at least a dozen. Every local news broadcast covered it, asking anyone with any information to come forward. Every newspaper, every store window, every letter box received the same posters.

The press was asking about a serial killer, preying upon the teenage girls of Rosewood. The missing person statistic of the town was rising rapidly, while the statistic for those found alive decreased. The press were questioning the likelihood of finding them alive, given the town’s history. Alison DiLaurentis was missing for over a year, but in the end she’d died on the very first night. Maya St. Germain was killed shortly after her disappearance, though she too was not found until later.

The mystery of the first girl’s death continued to build, even three years after the fact, and it had gotten two law enforcement officers killed. The big guns had been called in, and now four more went missing on their watch. People were starting to notice, to put the pieces together. They were starting to question the police’s ability to do their job.

The truth that everyone knew but no one spoke of was that the chances of them already being dead were high, and that chance only increased with every day that the police made no progress.

With things spinning out of their control, and people watching their every move, the police force issued a mandatory 9pm curfew for everyone under the age of 21.

 

The four whose faces were blanketing the town remained as they were, trapped and unable to move in the lair of ‘A’.

* * *

 

Detective Holbrook was returning from a debriefing with the cybercrime unit when he found the parents of the four girls camped out in the stations lobby.

Smothering the sigh that was bubbling under the surface he approached them.

“There’s no reason for you to be here, we’ll call you if we find anything,” he told them politely.

“That really isn’t good enough,” Veronica Hastings told him, “we want to know what you’re doing to find our girls.”

“We’re stilling following leads, so far we haven’t got anywhere. Though to be completely honest we haven’t gotten far, we’ve been completely swamped processing what your daughters have been compiling for the last three or so years. For now, we’re following the paper trail that they left for us and I’m confident that somewhere in that is the answer to this mystery, and just about every other mystery in this town.”

“What do mean? What have they compiled?” Pam Fields asked him.

“You didn’t know?” he aksed them, shocked.

“Didn’t know what?” Ella Montgomery asked.

“That for the last three years they have been searching for the person who killed Alison,” he told them.

“Well, yes, I suppose we all knew about that, what with the way they kept getting themselves arrested in the process,” Byron said.

“However,” Detective Holbrook added, “they have also been looking into a number of other cases.”

“Such as?” Veronica Hastings asked.

“Mona Vanderwaal’s history at Radley Sanitarium, Marion Cavanaugh’s death to name a few.”

“Where are you getting this information?”

“Well, for starters there’s their computers. When we finally got around the encryption-,” he said.

“What do you mean ‘finally’? They’re teenagers, how strong could their encryption be?”

“Stronger than what is standard for personal computers. A lot stronger.”

“What does that mean? Where would they have done that?” Ashley asked.

“And why?” Ella added.

“According to our computer technicians they think that it was a custom job, and one which was not done by any company or else there would be identifiers, so to speak.”

“We’ve found the three missing phones though they were in much the condition as Aria’s so our techs haven’t been able to pull anything off of them yet. We’ve also managed to subpoena their comprehensive phone records, so we now have every text message they sent or received as well as a more detailed log of all incoming and outgoing calls. In short we found on their phones and computers a lot of information connected to a number of different cases over the last few years. This has made it harder for us, as we can’t rule out that their abduction is connected to one of these.”

“At the moment our moment our top suspect is the elusive ‘A’ who clearly has a grudge against the four of them, and against Alison DiLaurentis when she was alive.”

“Mona Vanderwaal was ‘A’,” Veronica argued. “She was charged, and sent to Radley in case you’ve forgotten.”

“I’m talking about after she was out of the picture,”

“What do you mean?” Ella asked.

“It all stopped after she was sent away,” Pam added.

“Are you saying you weren’t aware they were still being stalked?” he asked them.

His question was met with silence.

“That’s can’t be true. They would have told us,” Peter insisted.

“Unfortunately, it is true,”

“Why didn’t they tell us?”

“They were probably afraid for your safety, or possibly their own secrets. Whoever this new ‘A’ is they would not have been happy if they had told anyone.”

“Why do you say ‘new’ ‘A’?” Veronica asked him. “Maybe Mona is back at her old tricks now that she’s out.”

“We’ve already looked into that, and she’s been exonerated. In fact, from what we’ve found we’re starting to question whether it is, or ever was, just one person behind it. It appears that it is a group of people, which would fit with the three assailants, due to the sheer amount of knowledge ‘A’ has. It certainly seems as though they knew every move the girls made, and every word they spoke.”

“How long has this been going on for?” Ashley asked.

“Well, if you include Mona then it’s been going on since shortly before Alison’s body was discovered. It didn’t stop after Mona was sent away.”

“All that time, and they never came to us?” Pam said, more to herself.          

“Do you have any idea who these people are?” Byron asked.

“Well, we believe it has to comprise of at least one person who is very close to them. Mona Vanderwaal was Hanna’s best friend prior to all of this, was she not?”

“Yes,” Ashley said quietly.

“To be honest, it could be any number of people. From their phones we’ve got close to two dozen names of people that they have suspected at different times. What we do know is that the new group is far more organised and more ruthless than Mona ever was, and they have have shown no hesitation to make good on their threats.”

“So, what you’re saying is that Mona was child’s play, all bark and no bite, and these people-,” Byron said, “these people play to kill.”

“Essentially yes,” Holbrook answered. “And there’s more.”

“What is it?” Veronica asked.

“It seems that they also believe that Alison DiLaurentis is still alive,” Holbrook said.

“Why would they think that?” Ella asked.

 

“I have no idea. I could understand it if she was still just missing, but now we have her body. There is no doubt that she’s dead.”


	8. In the Lair of the Monster, Take 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The plot thickens.

_"We're going to fight this battle with everything we have, and we will probably lose. But then we will fight it again, and we will lose a little less, for this battle will win us many supporters. And then we'll lose *again*. And *again*. And we will fight on. Because as hard as it is to win by fighting, it's impossible to win by doing nothing." –_  Cory Doctorow

She soon learned there was some kind of IV in her arm, and in the arms of the other three, which was constantly dosing them with what she could only assume was causing the paralysis. Periodically someone would come into the room and inject something in to their IV’s and then the darkness would return. Every time this happened, and every time it wore off, she had to start all over again; getting her eyes open, wait for the spinning to stop, the dizziness to pass and the nausea to wear off.

Darkness, creepy room; Darkness, creepy room. This cycle continued endlessly.

She couldn’t be certain, but she was fairly sure that this pattern continued for many days if not weeks. Even looking out the window and determining night from day didn’t help her with how many days. She did know that the storm which was raging the first time she woke up had long since passed, and the air no longer smelled of rain. Bright rays of sunshine illuminated the room instead, a sharp contrast to the gloom she felt internally.

Not being able to move, even to turn her head, left her with a lot of spare time on her hands. She tried not to think too much about where she was or how she got there, or how it would end. The first few times after she regained consciousness she studied every inch of her surroundings, or at least, the parts of it that she could see. She did this in an attempt to work out an escape route, should they rid themselves of the paralysis.

Her plan, should she regain any movement in her fingers, was to try and dislodge the drip, and put a stop to the drugs going into her system. From there she would do the same thing for her friends, and they would all remain as they were, feigning paralysis until all of them could move. Then they would make a break for it. As far as distractions went it did a pretty good job in that stopped her thinking about how hopeless the situation was; she knew once she started to dwell on that, she wouldn’t be able to stop. Leastways it was all she had.

Don’t give up, she reminded herself. Don’t give up. This thought was her new mantra.

She soon realised how futile the struggle was however as she made no progress whatsoever in trying to move anything except for her eyes; the drugs were continuously given through the IV, meaning they never wore off. Even after this realisation, she kept trying for a while because it was better than giving up and better than falling apart, inside at least.

With each cycle it got harder and harder to maintain hope and soon she couldn’t stop her mind from imagining what was in store for them. This in turn caused her to start panicking, and eventually it reached a point where all she do was scream – except that that absolutely nothing happened when she did.

She couldn’t move. Couldn’t defend herself.

She was trapped. Trapped inside her own body. There was no way out.

Trapped. No way out.

This only made her scream that bit more. Again nothing could be seen of her torment. When she ran out of silent screams she felt numb inside, as though someone had pressed the mute button on her emotions.

She remained in this state, barely aware of her surroundings, with nothing to distract her, nothing to provide any mental stimulation.

Sometime later, probably a couple of hours, she thought, she was brought back to reality by the sounds of footsteps approaching, accompanied by hushed, and strangely distorted, voices. Soon this was followed by the sound of the door, which was somewhere behind her, opening and then closing again as the owners of the voices entered the room. Now that they were closer and there were no walls between them, she could make out some of what they were saying.

“That’s good. So everything is going to schedule?” one voice asked.

“Yes, everything has gone smoothly,” a second voice answered.

“And what about tonight? Is everything ready?” the first voice said.

“Ready and waiting. We’ll start as soon as we get the go-ahead from Red,” the second voice replied.

“Good, because that’s why I’m here. Implement the first stage,” the first voice instructed.

“Understood,” the second complied.

She heard sounds like metal knocking against something, possibly glass, followed by a single set of footsteps, coming towards her.

She knew what this meant. The darkness was about to return.

What she didn’t know, was what they were planning. She knew, however, that whatever it was, it was going down tonight. She had a bad feeling she was about to die, and the panic from earlier returned for a moment, until the darkness started eating away her surroundings and she was no longer aware of anything. The last thing she heard as she went under was the first voice say, “I’ll tell her we’re on schedule to proceed tonight.”


	9. Get Rid of Everything Incriminating

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A chapter for their partners.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so this chapter was completely unplanned, but over on FFN people wanted one of their partners so here you are. I’m planning to put another like this one at the very end, so there are now 2 possibly 3 more chapters to follow this one.

“I grabbed everything I could from Hanna’s room,” Caleb said as he came into the room and set a big box down, “the stuff I knew about, and anything else I could find from A. Unfortunately the police have already long since been there so I lost their computers. However, the first day after they were taken I was able to remotely access their computers, while the police were busy trying to get through the encryptions I installed for all of them – so we have copies of their hard drives, which gives us their emails and any photos and videos they have.”

“I did Emily’s room then went to Aria’s and convinced her brother to let me into her room. I didn’t find much of anything there though, but I have no idea where she would have hidden anything,” Paige said. “I was thinking though, a lot of stuff came to them at school so it’s probably in their lockers.”

“You’re right. I went through Spencer’s room and grabbed anything I thought could help. I’m glad you were able to copy her computer though, I know she kept quite a bit on there. I’m worried about how much the police will get off it though; her search history alone would be quite informative.”

“Don’t worry about it; while I was hacking them I got rid of any of that stuff. I didn’t clear their internet history though. Unfortunately there also isn’t much I can do about their phones from here,” Caleb told them.

“So they’ll know they’ve been researching Ravenswood, my mother and that phone number, at the very least,” Toby said.

“At least none of that is illegal,” Paige offered.

Toby nodded to show his agreement.

“It would have been a lot worse if they’d found the video of them at Walden’s car the night before his body was found,” Caleb said.

“Or the photos from Alison’s grave after her body was stolen,” Paige added.

“Are you sure the cops won’t know the computers were tampered with,” Toby asked.

“No. But I don’t think they will, they had no idea the other time Hanna and I tampered with a computer right under their noses,” Caleb replied.

“Yeah, but that was the small town cops, these ones are from the big leagues,” Paige said.

“Even if I am caught, it’s still better than the girls getting framed for murder,” Caleb said, closing the discussion.

“What do we do now?” Paige asked.

“You go to the school, go through their lockers. I’m guessing you know Emily’s combination, I can give you Hanna’s, Toby do you know Spencer’s?” Caleb asked.

“Yes, I’ll go with you,” Toby answered.

“Can’t you just tell her?” Caleb asked.

“I can, but what about Aria’s?” Toby questioned. “Do either of you know her combination?”

He was met with silence, which gave him his answer. Turning to Paige he asked her, “Do you know how to get into her locker without the combination?”

“No,” she replied.

“Exactly,” he said. “I can into it even without the code, but it may take me some time.”

“Then could you go instead of Paige?” Caleb asked.

“Not a smart idea. I don’t go to Rosewood High, people will think my presence is strange but being with another student will draw a bit less attention,” Toby replied.

“Plus Emily has a second locker for swimming, and there is no way Toby can go into the female change rooms in the middle of the school day,” Paige added.

“Aright both of you go, but be careful – you and I are both ditching and if they realise you’re there it will be harder for you to leave,” Caleb warned.

“Don’t worry, we’ll be careful,” Paige said.

“What will you do in the meantime?” Toby asked Caleb.

“I’ll start sorting through everything on the computers, when you get back we’ll go through what we found and add them together, see what we come up with,” Caleb replied.

* * *

 

“Oh crap,” Paige said, as they approached the school in Toby’s truck. There were two police cars in the lot, and she could just make out Lieutenant Tanner and Detective Holbrook accompanied by two uniformed officers heading up the stairs into the building.

“What do you think they’re doing here?” Paige asked.

“Probably the same thing we are,” he replied. “But if we’re fast we can beat them to it.”

“Yeah, if we were move at the ‘speed of light’ fast then maybe, or do you not realise they’re inside the building already?!”

“Yeah, I know, but they’re going to have to go through some red tape first,” Toby said.

“Such as?”

“Such as going to the principal, hand over there warrant, the principal will check the warrant over, then they’ll have to go to the main office to get the keys for their lockers. My guess is they’ll do the main corridor first, then Emily’s gym locker so we’ll do the same.”

“Let’s hope your right,” she said.

They parked the ute and hurried into the school. The current classes didn’t end for another 7 minutes, so the corridors deserted. This was both good and bad, the first because it meant there was no one around to see Paige go to three different lockers (none of them hers), and Toby (who is not a student) hack his way into another. It was also bad though, because if anyone did come out, they would be spotted in less than a second.

“Quick, let’s do this and get out of here,” Toby said. “That’s Aria’s right?” he asked pointing to the locker he recalled was hers, back when he did go there.

“Yes,” she replied.

They got two work. When Toby had got the first to numbers in the combination and Paige had done Emily’s and Hanna’s and was just moving to Spencer’s they were interrupted by the sound of footsteps, just seconds before someone rounded the corner. Without enough time to react they both just stood frozen as Ezra Fitz stepped into the corridor.

He stopped when he spotted them and they all stood there for a few seconds, eyeing each other. Paige wondering what they could say to explain, and Toby daring him to turn them in. Ezra sized them up, still torn as  to whether or not to help them.

Finally Paige couldn’t take it anymore. “This isn’t what it looks like,” she said to him.

Ezra raised an eyebrow at her statement and his eyes moved back to Toby.

“Of course it isn’t. Toby isn’t breaking into Aria Montgomery’s locker, and you did not just through Hanna Marrin’s. That is just absurd. Toby is clearly here waiting for someone to get out of class, and you of course have a hall pass to go to the bathroom,” Ezra said.

“Exactly,” Toby said, meeting his eyes.

“As you were,” Ezra said, resuming walking, not yet sure about helping them, but sure he wasn’t going to hinder them. Just as he was about to head into his classroom, he paused and without turning spoke, “By the way, not that it affects you, but the police are at the office, obtaining the keys to the vey lockers you are not accessing. I’d say you have another two minutes or so, there was some sort of problem locating one of the keys,” he told them, making his mind up, and deciding to help them. Turning around to face them he held out his arm, a locker key held between two fingers. “Aria’s locker key,” he told them, handing it to Toby. “You didn’t get this from me.”

“Wha-,” Paige started to ask.

“I saw you come in in a hurry, and appeared to be on the lookout for something, with the way you kept glancing in the direction of the office, I figured that something was the four police officers. I took a guess as to why you were here, and it looks like I was right. Besides, its in my own best interests that the police don’t get into her locker. Do me a favour and take the book of poetry out and, if it’s there, the novel Winesburg, Ohio by Sherwood Anderson, will you?” he asked them.

“Sure,” Toby said.

“The second book, I’ve got it – it was in a box of things Aria gave to Emily so the police wouldn’t find. I took all that stuff out of her room,” Paige said.

Nodding his head in acknowledgement Ezra went in to his classroom, shutting the door, and the blind in the door’s window, behind him.

“That was weird,” Paige said. “Why would he do that? Why does he want those books hidden? Why did Aria want them hidden?”

“It’s not that weird – if the police found those books they would have probably cause to arrest him for having inappropriate relations with his students,” Toby said, turning to Aria’s locker and opening it.

Eyebrows raised at that, she put the information aside to look into later. She then moved to Spencer’s locker.

“Alright, done,” Toby said, not long after.

“Me too,” Paige replied just as the bell signalling the end of class rang. She grabbed one last thing before closing the door. She looked up just in time to see two things; the first, students starting to come pouring out of the classrooms all around them, and the second, the police come around the corner. She thinks for a second that maybe they hadn’t been seen, but then she meets Lietenant Tanner’s eyes for a split second before the lietenant looks over to Toby. Paige continues to stare at them, like a deer caught in headlights, even as the corridor becomes clogged with students procrastinating going to their next class. She is pulled back to her senses when Toby grabs her arm and turns her around.

“Let’s go, quickly, while there path is blocked,” he said, starting to run, pushing his way through the students milling around them, and pulling her in his wake.

 They continued like this until they reached the pool centre, then Toby stood watch outside while Paige went in.

As soon as she came back out they took off sprinting again, out the back exit before circling around the outside of the building to where they were parked.

When they were tearing out of the school lot and they still hadn’t had another citing of the police, they relaxed.

Incriminating and ‘A’ related evidence in tow they headed back to the hotel they were using as their headquarters, and which they had used cash and a fake name to get.

The cops wouldn’t find them there.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don’t know about other schools, but mine had these combination locks which had key holes at the back and the office had the keys so this is what I’ve done here.  
> Also, I’m not entirely sure who knows about Aria and Ezra, so for the sake of this Paige doesn’t, but Toby does – I figure this would be so both because he’s been in the picture longer than Paige, and because he was on the A-Team for a while.


	10. China Dolls and Tea Parties

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 9 days missing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok, so this is actually going up here before it is on FFN as the site is having technical difficulties preventing me from posting.

It was just after midnight and the janitor of Rosewood High was nearly done for the night, there was only one more thing to do before he could call it a night and head home. One of the teachers had requested an extra five chairs be retrieved from storage and placed in his classroom before school commenced. That meant crossing the grounds to the auditorium, where all the spare chairs, and folding tables used for exams, were stored.

It had been a long but quiet and uneventful night, and when he entered the hall, what he found was the absolute last thing that he had been expecting. He had absolutely no idea what to make of what was on the stage. He hadn’t heard anything about any sort of play, or project, or anything of that sort being in the works. It was bizarre.

The whole setup screamed old fashioned. The fancy antique table and chairs, the vintage dresses, the make-up, the jewellery – they looked like dolls, in the middle of a fancy tea party. The scene was complete with real food, sandwiches, fruit and biscuits and of course the fancy china tea set. It was almost peaceful.

Almost, but not quite peaceful due to the fact that they were smeared with blood and dirt. This contrasted greatly with the fancy dresses they wore, their hair which was perfectly styled so that not a hair was out of place, and the full red lips and rosy red cheeks. The combination of the two made it look like a scene right out of a horror movie.

The writing on the wall behind them, done in red paint built the atmosphere up even more.

It read: “Pretty Little Liars, - Kisses A” in block letters, the paint thick and dripping down the wall, giving the appearance of blood.

The four dolls sat around the table, positioned just so. Nothing more could be observed without closer examination. Or so he thought.

Suddenly the eyes flash open, one then another, then another and another. Again what one would expect from a horror movie. It must be a trick of the light, he thought and tried to convince himself that the eyes had been open the whole time.

He couldn’t quite shake the feeling however, that he was being watched. The kind of feeling that has your heart beating so fast you think it’ll burst right out of your chest, and which has the hairs on your arms and the back of your neck standing straight up. He tries to ignore the eyes of the dolls, which follow him as he moves around the room. Tries to pass it off as his imagination. After all, dolls don’t move, not on their own. Do they? He questioned himself, as the eyes continued to track him.

Still, you’re intrigued so move closer. You start to notice a slight movement; first one and then, upon closer examination, all four. The slightest, barely noticeable rise and fall of the chest and suddenly, flashing through your mind, is the thought that perhaps they are alive! But that’s ridiculous. Now, staring one right in the face you realise the eyes are once again closed. The tricks of your imagination have you backing up hurriedly, when suddenly the dolls eyes flash open. Now you know for sure – it’s not your imagination. The dolls eyes are startlingly blue, so blue as to be unnatural. As you watch one of the eyes appears to slip down, like a lazy eye, except for the brown eye that replaces it. This is the last straw, you cry out and back away from the table. As you do you trip over your own feet and fall down the stairs, taking a podium down with you and making an awful racket which is projected through the whole room. It is not long before you hear footsteps racing towards you and voices calling out to you, but you can’t answer.

All you can do is stare at the stage in shock.

They aren’t dolls.

They’re people.

Living and breathing people.


	11. Aftermath

"If that janitor hadn't found them when he did they wouldn't have been found until after lunchtime, when the first class of the day would have been in held in the auditorium," Detective Holbrook reported to Lieutenant Tanner.

"According to the doctors, they would have been dead of a drug overdose long before then. They were being drugged via IV, and the dosage which was being delivered would have resulted in cardiac arrest inside of four hours at the most," the lieutenant informed him. "The paramedics reports say they'd been there for just over two hours, based on the depletion of the IV bags.

"Lucky he found them when he did then, or they would have been dead long before they were found."

"But he did find them, and the doctors say they will make a full recovery, physically at least. I'm not sure the same can be said for mentally. Who knows if they'll ever fully recover from something like that," Tanner said. After she finished speaking she paused, a thought having suddenly occurred to her. "Do we know what the janitor was doing, going in there I mean?" the lieutenant asked. "Is that part of his normal routine?"

"No, it's not standard. Not unless there is an event scheduled such as exams, and I checked, there wasn't. He had a note from a teacher though, requesting extra chairs in a classroom," the detective replied. Seeing the questioning look on his superiors face he explained, "The school stores its extra chairs in a room off the auditorium," the detective replied.

"Which teacher made the request?"

"Uh, let me check," he replied, flicking through a file. "Ah, got it. The chairs were requested by Ezra Fitz."

Who would have thought such a random thing would see the happy conclusion to multiple missing person cases, the lieutenant thought to herself. This town is full of strange coincidences.

"Well, we may not know yet who is behind it, but there is one thing we know for sure," she told him.

"What's that?" he asked.

"Those girls were not supposed to survive the night. Whoever is behind it is not kidding around."

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just want to put this out there - I am not going to (entirely) reveal who did this. Part of what keeps me coming back to the show is that you never really find out who is behind it, which in turn makes everything that much more sinister. I also think that no matter who I wrote as being responsible, it would never live up to the show, and whats more, as soon as the show casts suspicion towards someone else, this story would be outdated.
> 
> [SPOILER SEASON 4!]
> 
> Obviously I've had some hints that Ezra is involved, and I will go into that more in the coming chapter/s, but as I said at the start I'm pretending the whole EzrA story line never happened on the show, however you can read into the dynamics of this story as much or as little as you want regarding him. There will be at least one, possibly two more chapters depending on how long it ends up being. I'm debating about giving Ezra his own chapter, and then having another containing the other 3, seeing as Ezra got less focus last time.

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: As I said at the start this is quite rough, as such I am looking for a beta reader so if, having read the first chapter, you think you'd be interested send me a PM!
> 
> Reviews are much appreciated!


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